Method of providing location-based information from portable devices
First Claim
1. A method of providing location-based information from anonymous portable devices, comprising the steps of:
- determining a geographic location of at least one anonymous portable device;
recording geographic location coordinates of the at least one anonymous portable device in computer readable memory; and
establishing and maintaining a set of preexisting, community recognized public geographic regions and a set of preexisting, community recognized non-public geographic regions within a geographic area in which the at least one anonymous portable device is located, wherein if the at least one anonymous portable device is located within the preexisting, community recognized non-public geographic region, the geographic location coordinates associated with the at least one anonymous are automatically replaced with a generalized set of geographic coordinates associated with the preexisting, community recognized non-public geographical region, and if the at least one anonymous portable device is located with the preexisting, community recognized public geographic region, the geographic location coordinates associated with the at least one anonymous portable device remain unchanged.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The method of providing location-based information from portable devices allows for the tracking of the location of portable devices (14), such as cellular telephones, for example, for the recordation and subsequent analysis of demographic, location-based information. The method includes the steps of: determining (200) a geographic location of at least one portable device (14); recording geographic location coordinates (250) of the portable device (14) in computer readable memory (140); establishing a set of public geographic regions (20) and a set of non-public geographic regions (30) within a geographic area in which the portable device (14) is located; and dividing each non-public geographic region (30) into a plurality of geographic non-public zones (52), where if the portable device (14) is located within a non-public geographic region (30), the geographic location coordinates are replaced (260) with a generalized set of geographic coordinates associated with the non-public geographical region (30).
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method of providing location-based information from anonymous portable devices, comprising the steps of:
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determining a geographic location of at least one anonymous portable device; recording geographic location coordinates of the at least one anonymous portable device in computer readable memory; and establishing and maintaining a set of preexisting, community recognized public geographic regions and a set of preexisting, community recognized non-public geographic regions within a geographic area in which the at least one anonymous portable device is located, wherein if the at least one anonymous portable device is located within the preexisting, community recognized non-public geographic region, the geographic location coordinates associated with the at least one anonymous are automatically replaced with a generalized set of geographic coordinates associated with the preexisting, community recognized non-public geographical region, and if the at least one anonymous portable device is located with the preexisting, community recognized public geographic region, the geographic location coordinates associated with the at least one anonymous portable device remain unchanged. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of providing location-based information from portable devices, comprising the steps of:
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determining a geographic location of at least one portable device; recording geographic location coordinates of the at least one portable device in computer readable memory; establishing a set of public geographic regions and a set of non-public geographic regions within a geographic area in which the at least one portable device is located; dividing each non-public geographic region into a plurality of geographic non-public zones, wherein if the at least one portable device is located within a non-public geographic region, the geographic location coordinates associated with the at least one portable device are replaced with a generalized set of geographic coordinates associated with the non-public geographical region, and if the at least one portable device is located within a public geographic region, the geographic location coordinates associated with the at least one portable device remain unchanged, the replacement of the geographic location coordinates associated with the at least one portable device with the generalized set of geographic coordinates associated with the non-public geographical region includes replacing the geographic location coordinates associated with the at least one portable device with location coordinates of the geographic non-public zone in which the at least one portable device is located, wherein the location coordinates comprise a centroid of the geographic non-public zone in which the at least one portable device is located; recording time-based data associated with each set of geographic location coordinates which are recorded in the computer readable memory; and establishing a user-selectable time interval for determining the geographic location coordinates of the at least one portable device, and recording a set of geographic location coordinates and time-based data for each time interval. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification